Homeless in Arizona

Lisa James of "Just Vote No Arizona" seems to be saying that despite the fact that Yavapai County Attorney Sheila Polk got caught in a bold faced lie claiming that 62 children had died from marijuana, that we should still listen to their anti-drug propaganda and lies.

We have all heard the line from some jerk cop who says, "drugs will ruin your life", and then goes on to say "If I catch you will drugs, I will throw you in prison and ruin your life"

Lisa James of "Just Vote No Arizona" seems to be giving us the line of BS in this editorial.

Why is recreational pot bad? Meet my brother

Lisa James, AZ I See It 10:47 p.m. MST June 28, 2015

My Turn: What started as hanging out with buddies smoking weed turned into a nightmare.

E.J. Montini's recent blog, "Did marijuana actually kill 62 kids in Arizona? Or ...," misses the point being made by Yavapai County Attorney Sheila Polk and other opponents of recreational marijuana.

The research study Polk cited may not serve as evidence one could use in a court room to directly tie marijuana to 62 children's deaths in Arizona in 2013, but I can tell you from personal experience you should be using it in your family room, your classroom, your doctor's office and when you walk into the voting booth next November.

Legalizing recreational marijuana in our state is a bad idea. Even if use doesn't always end in death, the impact on individuals, families and society is staggering.

The first time my brother was arrested, he was 17 years old. The last time he was arrested was three months ago. At 44 years old, he has spent half his adult life in jail, prison or rehab. [Sounds like the laws against drugs ruined her brother's life, not the actual drugs]

He missed his youngest child's birth, countless birthdays, holidays and simple family dinners. It cost him his business, then his job, his home, and his health. What started as hanging out with the wrong crowd and smoking pot in high school led to crack cocaine, bath salts and meth — and those are just the ones I know about.

If we legalize recreational marijuana, we are sending a message to our kids that, in the words of my own teenage son, "If it's legal, that means it's not that bad, right?"

Wrong. Unfortunately, years of discussions about how bad choices can ruin lives, as evidenced by his uncle, are thrown out with one statement about making it legal. Thankfully, we talk about it and could correct it in our home.

As any family member of an addict knows all too well, drug abuse ruins lives. And not just the life of the user. My parents and my brother's wife and three kids have been through unimaginable grief and suffering.

And the community suffers as well. When you are an addict, you don't have an income. You are not contributing to society. You are not paying taxes. You are not volunteering in the community. You are not being the best parent you can be.

We were both raised under the same roof with wonderful parents. So why him and not me? I don't know.

What I do know is that next year we have a chance to vote no and tell our kids that recreational marijuana use is not OK. Because I would never wish on anyone what my family and I have gone through and continue to go through.

Lisa James of Scottsdale is chairman of Just Vote No Arizona.

Safe pot? Tell that to the 62 kids who died

Safe pot? Tell that to the 62 kids who died

Sheila Polk, AZ I See It 2:29 p.m. MST June 15, 2015

My Turn: More youth deaths are linked to marijuana than alcohol or methamphetamine.

Marijuana is an addictive and hazardous drug. But lately, some have taken to proclaiming that "marijuana is safer than alcohol," a message that is not only wrong but dangerous.

According to the Arizona Department of Health Services, in a study that examines all deaths in Arizona of children under the age of 18, a disturbing number of child deaths resulted from substance use. It was linked to the deaths of 128 of Arizona's children in 2013.

Guess which substance was the most prevalent? Not alcohol, not methamphetamine (although they were close seconds), but marijuana. In 2013, marijuana use was associated with the tragic and needless deaths of 62 children in Arizona.

The point is this: Prevention, not legalization, remains the best model for addressing drug abuse. Approximately 7.5 percent of Americans regularly use marijuana while 52 percent use alcohol, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Why raise the first number to the second?

Marijuana today is far more potent than decades past. It poses significant and real threats to the development of the adolescent brain, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

It negatively impacts memory, learning, attention and reaction time — basic skills for our students — and its effects linger even after the intoxication is gone. Research concludes that marijuana use causes a loss of up to eight IQ points in those who start young and use it over the long term.

Legalization of marijuana means more kids will use it. Colorado, where the reckless experiment with legal retail marijuana is unfolding, has seen its youth use rate skyrocket. Colorado students ages 12 to 17 use marijuana at a rate that is 38 percent higher than the national average. While the rest of the country saw a slight increase (less than half a percent) in use of marijuana by folks ages 12 and older from 2012-13, Colorado's rate jumped 22 percent.

Increased availability of a mind-altering drug plays an extremely important role in addiction and poor academic outcomes. Teens who use marijuana are significantly less likely to graduate from high school, are much more likely to use other illicit drugs, and sadly, face increased odds of suicide attempts, according to a September 2014 article in The Lancet Psychiatry.

Sheila Polk is the Yavapai County Attorney and vice

Sheila Polk is the Yavapai County Attorney and vice chair of Arizonans for Responsible Drug Policy. (Photo: handout)

The marijuana lobby argues that their plan is to legalize marijuana only for adults, just like alcohol. But consider how that has worked out for our youth and society. Arizona teens regularly use alcohol at almost twice the rate of marijuana. Legalization of a substance generates availability, acceptability and increased use.

To argue that marijuana should be treated more like alcohol is a failure of logic. According to one recent study, the annual cost to taxpayers for health care and crime based on excessive alcohol consumption was $94.2 billion. These billions of dollars do not include the intangible costs of the turmoil inflicted by the user on children, families and neighborhoods.

Legalizing an addictive drug that is linked to child abuse and neglect, increased psychosis and suicidal ideations, lowered IQ, memory loss, impaired learning, poor attention, and academic failure means more damaged lives and lost opportunities for our youth.

Arizona need be in no rush to go down this hole. Four other states have embarked on this experiment; let's watch them and examine their data.

It is unconscionable to experiment with legalization on Arizona's youth. Those 62 children whose lives were snuffed out in 2013 would certainly agree.

Sheila Polk is the Yavapai County Attorney and vice chair of Arizonans for Responsible Drug Policy.

Did marijuana actually kill 62 kids in Arizona? Or...

Did marijuana actually kill 62 kids in Arizona? Or...

EJ Montini, The Republic | azcentral.com 3:20 p.m. MST June 17, 2015

Just how deadly a killer is marijuana? Not a single person has ever died from a weed overdose. According to one frequently cited study, a marijuana smoker would have to consume 20,000 to 40,000 times

If you happened to read a guest editorial in Tuesday's Arizona Republic by Yavapai County Attorney Sheila Polk you might have come away believing that marijuana use killed 62 kids in Arizona in 2013.

Polk has no real proof of that, of course, hedging her bets with the word "associated." It's good work. But all her essay proves is that Polk wants to be like … me.

The Yavapai prosecutor is serving as vice chairwoman of Arizonans for Responsible Drug Policy, and is doing everything she can to make the case against marijuana legalization. She's not making that argument in a hall of justice, however, but in the court of public opinion, where (as I well know) a bland set of facts can be made palatable with a heaping helping of spiced baloney.

In her essay, for example, Polk writes, "In 2013, marijuana use was associated with the tragic and needless deaths of 62 children in Arizona."

Wow. That's a pretty startling figure. I mean, if marijuana killed 62 kids don't you think that might have made, you know, the news?

Here's the deal. Polk is using as a reference a report by the Arizona Child Fatality Review Program. The report notes that 811 children under 18 died in Arizona in 2013. How they died is then broken down. Mistreatment. Prematurity. Drowning. Firearms. Motor Vehicles. And so on. The report also notes the number of kids whose deaths had some relation to drugs.

It says, "The CFR program defines substance use as associated with a child's death if the child, the child's parent, caretaker and/or if the person responsible for the death, during or about the time of the incident leading to the death, used or abused substances, including illegal drugs, prescription drugs, and/or alcohol."

So, it's not necessarily a child who is using the drugs. And it's often a combination of substances. That's why Polk says marijuana is "associated" with 62 deaths.

What does "associated" mean?

According to the report, "Although substance use is a known risk factor in child fatalities, it is important to remember the term associated is used because it is not always clear if or how the substance use had a direct or contributing effect on the fatality incident."

So, maybe the drug contributed, maybe it didn't. Not the kind of evidence Polk would present in a courtroom.

The report adds, "Although there was a rise in associated marijuana use over alcohol in 2013, this may not be indicative of a new trend as the reported percentages of these two substances fluctuate from year to year. It was also usually a combination of some of these substances and not just one, which played a part in the fatality incident."

What? We can't totally trust the numbers? Again, not exactly courtroom-worthy evidence.

Polk concludes her essay, "It is unconscionable to experiment with legalization on Arizona's youth. Those 62 children whose lives were snuffed out in 2013 would certainly agree."

So, not only can those who are opposed to marijuana legalization fiddle with the facts, they can also speak for the dead?

And I thought it was stoners who were supposed to lose touch with reality.